The strong first quarter margin was achieved despite a $22 million net interest earnings headwind due to our decreased consumer finance portfolio. If we equalize the 2021 portfolio size to 2019, adjusted EBITDA margin would have been roughly 23% compared to the 22% margin in the first quarter of 2019 and 20.5% this 12 months. One 12 months in the past, we acknowledged the uncertainty forward, and in response, we took swift action. We made important tactical and long-term strategic choices which allowed us to handle our short-term money move and has powered our return to normalized profitability, setting us up to execute on our recovery as the world gets again on vacation.
But once more, proprietor and new proprietor are wanting very in one other way, as we head into the second half of the 12 months. We paid our first-quarter dividend of $0.30 per share on March 31st …